Read "To a. J. Scott: when, Long Ago, the Daring of my Youth" by George MacDonald online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
When, long ago, the daring of my youth / Drew nigh thy greatness with a little thing, / Thou didst receive me; and thy sky of truth / Has domed me since, a heaven of sheltering, / Made homely by the tenderness and grace / Which round thy absolute friendship ever fling / A radiant atmosphere. Turn not thy face / From that small part of earnest thanks, I pray, / Which, spoken, leaves much more in speechless case.
I see thee far before me on thy way / Up the great peaks, and striding stronger still; / Thy intellect unrivalled in its sway, / Upheld and ordered by a regnant will; / Thy wisdom, seer and priest of holy fate, / Searching all truths its prophecy to fill; / But this my joy: throned in thy heart so great, / High Love is queen, and sits without a mate.
May, 1857.